Due to the practice-led nature of this research, and in parallel with the literature review, it was critically important to conduct a review of contemporary practice in order to gain a clear understanding of the field of screen typography. This is not an exhaustive review of practice but rather a focused critique of key practitioners and practical works that exemplify past and current design activity in the field. The critical selection of designers and works discussed were chosen using methodology that was developed from a gathering technique for this research.

The main aim of the practice review was to ascertain the nature, type and extent of screen typographic practice with a view to determining what are the guiding design principles (traditional or new) evident in the work. Piecing together the terrain where screen typography is emerging, shows that the nature of practice in the field is multiple and varied, and that lines delineating different areas of practice are often blurred and overlapping.

A visual map of the field of practice was devised in an attempt to describe the types of screen typography that currently exist, mapping them into four broad interrelated categories of typography: dynamic, interactive, motion and experimental. The aim of this practice map is to present a broad overview of the field of screen typography and of how each of the areas within it relate to and overlap with one other.

The review of contemporary practice is currently being finished and will be published here in a series of edited articles and hopefully later in an academic publication.